Now that Steve Ballmer is finally out, partners are breathing a collective sigh of relief for a number of reasons, some petty some huge. Over the last 13 years Microsoft has had a fair share of ups and downs. Although Ballmer can and should be blamed for many of them, it is worth taking a step back for a bit of perspective.

He took the helm in the good old days, when work was already underway on XP, one of Redmond’s most successful operating systems, backed by an impressive array of other products and initiatives, such as the Xbox push.

It’s been downhill ever since.

Vista

Ballmer once described Vista as his biggest regret and who are we to argue. Vista was terrible, but in an ironic twist it did help fuel the need for new, faster hardware. It was just too bloated to run properly on old XP boxes, so people had to upgrade. To fix the mess Windows 7 was a lot more streamlined and it was followed up by the even leaner Windows 8. As a result, most Vista machines are still perfectly capable of running the latest version of Windows and for many consumers there is simply no incentive to upgrade, unless they spill a cup of tea on their laptop.

However, the biggest problem with Windows was and still remains relatively slow development and the reliance on an ancient business model that no longer works. Apple and Google try to keep things interesting with tons of updates and new features, free of charge. Microsoft’s updates are basically fixes and new versions of Windows still cost an arm and a leg, offering very little in return.

Windows 8 aka the new Vista

Windows 8.x is proof that Microsoft still doesn’t get it. It was designed with tablets in mind at a time when there was simply no hardware to take advantage of its new interface.

There’s still very little in the way of touch enabled apps. As an added bonus, corporate users hate the new interface, which has failed on both fronts. Windows 8 has not been very successful in the tablet space, but at the same times the tablet tweaks also made it unappealing for desktop users and businesses.

It is rumoured that Microsoft employees are internally referring to Windows 8 as “the new Vista.”

Epic hardware flops

There was no shortage of hardware flops during Ballmer’s tenure, either. Remember the Zune, or better yet the Kin? Neither do we and Microsoft is trying to forget them. In addition to wasting millions on Zune, Microsoft also wasted half a billion on the developer of Sidekick and Kin, which was appropriately named Danger. Microsoft’s hardware curse is still going strong, thanks to the Surface.

Investing in Danger wasn’t the only bad call. Seven years ago Microsoft also took a massive $6.2 billion write down for digital marketing outfit aQuantive.

Wasteful spending continued with Microsoft’s efforts to take on Google in online services and search. All the efforts failed spectacularly, but cumulatively they cost the company a few more billion. Last year Microsoft took another $900 million hit thanks to the Surface RT. We will give the first gen Xbox a pass, since it was marred by a huge write-off, but eventually the Xbox division recovered.

Pricey acquisitions

While Ballmer’s Microsoft was trying to compete with Google online, it was outmanoeuvred by Google on its own turf. Google acquired Android eight years ago for just $50 million, one tenth of what Microsoft paid for Danger. Google is now the biggest mobile OS on the planet, the Kin is just another embarrassing footnote in Microsoft’s history.

Google also scooped up YouTube, DoubleClick, AdMob and topped it all off with Motorola Mobility, which it sold off to Lenovo, but not entirely. Google was just a lot better at picking winners than Ballmer and his gang. Microsoft did get Skype, but it paid $8.5 billion for the privilege and it did it only after Skype virtually destroyed its own Messenger.

And then there's aQuantive...

Throwing cash at problems

The Skype deal is indicative of another problem. Mighty Microsoft paid $8.5 billion to buy a competitor, as it apparently couldn’t bring its own services up to speed for what is a huge amount of cash.

Google probably could and would, Apple too, but for some reason Microsoft’s culture revolves around throwing cash at problems rather than solving them in-house. It is just a weird and oppressive culture that could work in the nineties, when Microsoft was king of the world and didn’t have much competition to worry about.

Too slow to adapt

Microsoft tends to get blamed for missing the boat on social networking, but in all fairness most tech companies did and even Google didn’t exactly nail it with Google+. However, the problem goes beyond social networking, which is something Microsoft probably shouldn’t mess around with in the first place.

Microsoft failed to harness the full potential of third-party products and services that grew at a staggering rate. These include social networks, tablets, smartphones and web-based services. The company was simply too slow to respond to emerging trends and it paid a huge price for its hubris. Android dominates the smartphone market, Apple has a firm grip on tablets, Google is still unchallenged in online services and overall the Windows platform is a lot less relevant than a few years ago.

Microsoft remains OS-centric and this antiquated approach is still stifling innovation.

Mobile

But Microsoft’s biggest failure under Ballmer was undoubtedly mobile. Ballmer arrogantly laughed at the iPhone and he clearly failed to recognize the threat posed by iOS and Android. As a result Microsoft’s market share in the smartphone market is virtually non-existent. It also teamed up with Nokia, another outfit that didn’t get it, which was only fitting.

If phones weren’t to be, then Microsoft had another big chance in tablets, but it botched that, too. It even decided to cripple its own Windows RT platform by refusing to integrate Outlook, while at the same time it refused to release Office for iOS and Android, which didn’t help its own products and just allowed competing products to emerge.

The big question now is what Satya Nadella plans to do next? Cleaning up the mess that is Microsoft won’t be easy, it will be a bit like cleaning Hunter S. Thompson’s hotel room. However, there are some positive developments. Windows 8.1 hybrids are coming and they are pretty good. Windows Phone has matured and it is gaining share in many markets. Microsoft remains a powerhouse in enterprise and on the other side of the spectrum the new Xbox appears to be doing quite well.

It’s high time for a Redmond renaissance and we can only hope Nadella can pull it off. He can also count on input and support from Bill Gates, who was probably brought it to reassure investors, but his role should not be underestimated.

After a seemingly endless stream of rumors, Microsoft has officialy and finally named Satya Nadella as the new Chief Executive Officer and Steve Ballmer's successor. Nadella previously held the position of Executive Vice President of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group and will be the company's third CEO.

The Microsoft Board of Directors has appointed Satya Nadella as CEO of the company and a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Satya Nadella was with the company from 1992, and has, according to Microsoft's official statement, spearheaded major strategy and techical shifts across the company's portfolio of products and services, mostly with focus on cloud.

Bill Gates, who was also appointed as the Fouunder and Technology Advisor to the Board of Directors in order to devote more time to the company, is one of the first to congratulate and welcome Satya Nadella as the new Microsoft CEO in a video which you can see below.

Former CEO Steve Ballmer said: "Having worked with him for more than 20 years, I know that Satya is the right leader at the right time for Microsoft. I've had the distinct privilege of working with the most talented employees and senior leadership team in the industry, and I know their passion and hunger for greatness will only grow stronger under Satya's leadership."

In his official comment, Satya Nadella said that ""Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldn't be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company. The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly."

Microsoft has been struggling lately and hopefully both Satya Nadella as the new CEO and Bill Gates as the "new" Founder and Technology Advisor, will manage to push the company in the right direction.

As it was quite clear and expected now that Microsoft and Nokia announced the deal in which Microsoft will buy Nokia's Devices and Services business for around US $7.1 billion and that Stephen Elop will be stepping down from the position of CEO at Nokia, Steve Ballmer, current CEO of Microsoft confirmed that same Stephen Elop is now a candidate for future Microsoft CEO.

In an interview with The Seattle Times, Microsoft's current and soon to be ex. CEO, Steve Ballmer, confirmed that Stephen Elop will be running for the position of Microsoft CEO. Stephen Elop was actually the first non-Finn to be named CEO of Nokia, back in 2010 and was previously actually member of Microsoft's head of the Business Division responsible for Microsoft Office back when Office 2010 was released.

The same deal struck between Microsoft and Nokia also means that Microsoft will pick up 32,000 Nokia employees, including Stephen Elop that will swtich to an executive vice president position at Microsoft, so it is not a big surprise that he will now be an internal candidate for the Microsoft CEO position.

Of course, Microsoft's board with Bill Gates will have a final decision and will continoue to look all external and internal candidates for the job.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed a story broke by Allthingsd.com, Microsoft's Windows unit president Steven Sinofsky is leaving the company.

Less than a month away from the official launch of two quite important products, Windows 8 and the Surface tablet, Microsoft decided to say goodbye to its key man. Although, according to Microsoft press release at least, the move was a mutual decision by Sinofsky and the company, Allthingd.com reports that its sources are pointing out at growing tension between Sinofsky and other top executives and although seen as highly talented, Sinofsky was viewed at the top levels as not being the team player that the company was looking for.

In its official press release, Steve Ballmer praised the work of Steven Sinofsky and was "being grateful for the many years of work that Steven has contributed to the company, but has also talked about an imperative to continue to drive alignment across all Microsoft teams in order to have more integrated and rapid development cycles for its offerings.

Sinofsky briefly commented on its years spent at Microsoft and praised the company. "It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft,” Sinofsky said. “I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company.”

The work previously done by Steven Sinofsky will be divided between two deputies. Julie Larson-Green will take over an engineering side of Windows, while Tami Reller will take care of the business side.

Speaking at the Seoul Digital Forum, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer said that the company’s upcoming OS, Windows 8, is the most important thing it’s done.

Ballmer has never been the one to skimp on words and he mentioned “the dawning of the rebirth of Windows.” He also threw in a couple of adjectives such as “deepest, broadest and the most impactful [Windows ever]”.

Ballmer delivered a few estimates as well and said that 400-500 million people will have Windows 8 next year. He added that it will make it the most popular system. As for its older brother, Windows 7, Ballmer expects 350 million Win7 devices to ship in 2012.

We have an unreliable source in Microsoft claiming that Office 365 will be released in June. CEO Steve Ballmer used to be quite a good deep throat in Microsoft, but lately his predictions of product launches have been off the mark and often disputed by officials that actually run things.

Speaking in Delhi Ballmer said that Microsoft was pushing hard in the productivity space. Microsoft would launch its Office 365 cloud service, which gives Lync and Exchange and SharePoint and Office and as a subscribable service that comes from the cloud. That launches in the month of June.

The cloud service will replace the current Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), and include access to Exchange, SharePoint, the Lync unified communications suite, and both desktop and Web-based versions of Office tools such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The Office 365 beta has attracted more than 100,000 customers, and was recently expanded to become a public beta available to anyone.

To be fair to Steve, June is a good bet for a launch. In April, Microsoft would only say that Office 365 will launch later this year. It is in competition Microsoft is facing from Google Apps so it will need to get something out quickly.

Afterthe shy and retiring CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer flogged off $1.3 billion in Microsoft stock last week, rumours were rife that he planned to buy a basketball team with the cash.

There was serious speculation that he planned to buy the Sacramento Kings and move the team to Seattle. It apparently made sense, Ballmer was fond of throwing objects and making people jump through hoops.

He spearheaded a 2008 campaign to save the Sonics with a KeyArena expansion. He wanted to get King County and Seattle to match its $150 million pledge for KeyArena. He also indicated he would be willing to buy a team and move it to Seattle.

However Kings co-owner Joe Maloof told the Sacramento Business Journal the rumours were pants. He said that he has "never met Mr. Ballmer, we've had no contact with him and the team is not for sale."

We guess that Steve must be doing something else with all that money. Might we suggest investing in a go ahead Bosnian technology magazine? Actually just the social fund of the said magazine would be a great idea. [I'd be more than happy to manage the fund. sub.ed.]

Shy and retiring Microsoft CEO Steve “sound of one hand clapping” Ballmer has announced that Microsoft will compete with Apple in the iPad market after all.

For those who have short memories, Microsoft had a really good looking tablet which would have made the industry stand up and take notice called the Courier. However it was mysteriously never released, the team was disbanded and Microsoft handed the entire market over to Apple.

Well now it seems that Ballmer wants back in. He said that Microsoft was working with software partners such as HP, Lenovo, Asus, Dell and Toshiba to develop a tablet-style computer. Speaking at a financial analysts at a meeting at Microsoft’s headquarters in Seattle, Ballmer told the world that “We” have to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates.

“It is job one urgency around here, nobody’s sleeping at the switch. We’ve got to push right now – right now – with our hardware partners. As soon as they’re ready, they’ll be shipping. We want to deliver products that people really want to buy,” he said. Ballmer added that he was impressed by the iPad, which ended up selling more than he expected.

It looks to us that Microsoft wanted to see if the iPad tanked before it came up with a budget machine that did the same thing. However he should have done this a long time ago.